Redeemer Theological Seminary

Founded in 2009 and located near the heart of the expanding DFW metroplex, with campuses in Austin and Houston, Redeemer Seminary offers seminary training in a vibrant urban setting. Redeemer is preparing ministers of the gospel, campus ministers, church planters, biblical counselors and other leaders for service in Christ’s church. Redeemer is committed to equipping seminarians to rightly handle the word of God through a rigorous academic education, to the spiritual formation of its students, and to proclaiming the gospel of Jesus and the glory of God to the world.

I attended the school when it was WTS-TX and helped it transition into the Redeemer Seminary stage. I have the experience of sitting behind tables in the classrooms and sitting behind a desk in my office. My interactions are as much with current students as they are with alumni, as they are with faculty and staff. There are many ‘reformed’ seminary options that offer a fine education, what distinguishes RS is the top to bottom joy and interest in the students. Our faculty is top notch. The level of academic expectation is rigorous. The student’s accessibility to faculty and staff is open and easy. The location is right in the heart of the cultural hub of one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The seminary’s commitment to leasing office space keeps the cost to the student WAY down, but it also means that our students are living out the core value of God’s mission. We gather for training and education, and then we scatter into various local churches, neighborhoods, and places of employment all across the metroplex. The strength of RS is the quality of the student body. The men and women that have chosen to study at Redeemer share a commitment to the wonder of the Good News, the authority of Scripture, the beauty of our reformed distinctives, and the pervasive belief that there is no such thing as disembodied theology.

This place is not a diploma mill – if you come here you will get a serious education. It doesn’t matter if you have been a Christian for decades or for days, your understanding of the Bible and Christian mission will be greatly expanded. Strong emphasis on Greek and Hebrew helps anchor you in the text of scripture while outstanding and thoughtful professors encourage and challenge you to grow. It’s like a large family gathering, because relationships are so easily built here. The environment provides opportunity for personal and professional growth and accountability.

The best deal for your dollar. Redeemer Seminary integrates all aspects to form someone for ministry. The availability for students to meet with pastors is unique in that you don’t have to cross over any red tape to meet them, set up appointments, get tutoring, etc. The academics are come from a classical education model from Westminster Seminary and Princeton Seminary so you can expect to be pushed with your mind. However, the atmosphere at the school, the location around many non-believers, and the organic built community prevents students from receding to their “dungeon” to study all the time. Every time you walk in the seminary you meet many students and faculty which is good for spiritual formation.

My desire to attend seminary began about ten years ago. I could point to a number of reasons as to why it took me until last year to begin my studies, but I believe one of those reasons is that Redeemer did not yet exist.

My wife and I moved from Maryland to attend Redeemer, and that was after visiting both Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) and Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Both seminaries seemed like good seminaries in their own right. Obviously, Philadelphia would have been a lot closer to Maryland (and hence, our families), and the idea of studying in sunny Florida had it’s own appeal. What about Redeemer could have convinced us to move over 1400 miles away?

In a sense, the only legit answer to this is that I believe it is to this particular seminary which God has called me. Besides the preliminary requirement that stand in the stream of the Reformed tradition, that call became clearer and gradually confirmed for a few specific reasons.

First, and this is not a joke, the video interviews of Redeemer faculty members gave us a glimpse into the curriculum, but more importantly a glimpse into the heart of the Seminary. By “heart” I mean affections. I could tell that the faculty was interested in ministering Christ first and foremost to my heart, knowing that unapplied knowledge “puffs up.” I’ve heard many warnings that the academic demands of seminary can strip you of your heart for God, and I while I don’t think that any seminary is automatically protected from that phenomenon, it was very encouraging to me to see that Redeemer was aware of this and was actually oriented towards fighting against it.

Second, when we visited for a couple days, the above point was confirmed. We were visited warmly by the faculty and students. There was an air of honesty about sin and grace.

Third, the Bible is taken very seriously. While I can’t really compare the abilities of the language professors to those of other seminaries, I have no doubt that I am getting the best possible exposure to the original Greek and Hebrew texts from folks who not only know the grammar, but who care deeply about why God’s word matters at a heart level. Even Textual Criticism was presented in a pastoral manner. That’s special.

Fourth, my wife and I came to Redeemer while she was two months pregnant. Apart from two friends who live about an hour away from Redeemer, we didn’t know anybody. We were very concerned about how hard it would be to develop a new network of friends, especially with the enormous responsibility of raising a child looming before us. Only a few months after arriving, these two introverts felt like we had lived here our whole lives. The friends we have made are some of the best we’ve ever had, and that includes professors as well as students.

Fifth, Redeemer isn’t too big. The student-teacher ratio is much lower than it would likely be in a larger seminary. For a seminary of this size, the library is phenomenal — over 20,000 books, with very little “filler.”

Sixth, and I’ll stop here because I feel like I’ve already said too much even though I feel I could say much more, Redeemer has somehow managed to find the sweet spot of unity in diversity. Many denominations are represented by the student body. This of course results in fun conversations, but it is always done in a spirit of respect and recognition that iron sharpens iron. Redeemer is truly Reformed in the sense that it seeks to be always reforming around the unfailing Word of God.

Redeemer Seminary has equipped me to interpret the Bible honestly, but with a depth that I did not know to be possible prior to studying under ALL of our Biblical interpretation professors. The other departments use the same hermeneutic to teach their particular disciplines, and there is obviously inter-departmental synthesis, providing a consistent, challenging, yet caring education. But more than the information received at Redeemer is the humility that is both taught and exampled by the entire faculty, which a student cannot help but be effected by.

I am currently a student at Redeemer Seminary. My experience here has been wonderful. The class size has generally been really good, I have a relationship with every professor on staff, and the community of students and faculty is encouraging, loving, sanctifying, and edifying.

The school’s academics are great, but not the culture of the school is saturated with the love of for the people who are attending. Redeemer has a small student body (~120 at the Dallas campus) that allows for great interaction and care between the students. I expected good friendships to come from my time here, which has been the case, but I did not expect the level of commitment to my personal spiritual well-being.

The academics for the school are great and I love the classes. The education has done a great job of helping me love God more with my mind, it holds me to a high standard when I approach the Bible, and it is equipping me better for going on into the ministry.